


In Stormy Weather

by dragonshost



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:07:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26293876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonshost/pseuds/dragonshost
Summary: There was more than one way to save someone from the rain.
Relationships: Lucy Heartfilia/Juvia Lockser
Comments: 1
Kudos: 56





	In Stormy Weather

It had taken Juvia a long time to realize it, but there was more than one way to save someone from the rain. There was the forced clearing of the skies, of course. Gray had shown her that bright blue view for the first time, and she would always, always love him for that. Her gratitude exceeded the bounds of that sky he’d shown her.

But... it was someone else that had shown her another.

Of all people, it had been the person she’d most feared taking her skies away from her. For if Gray was taken away from her, what would Juvia have left? Nothing at all, but a stormy sky.

Maybe that was why she’d paid so much attention to Lucy. Almost to the point of bullying, even. It wasn’t difficult to keep an eye on her. She was usually somewhere in the vicinity of Gray, where Juvia wanted to be as well. Two birds, one stone.

But then, one day, Juvia noticed Lucy hanging around even when Gray wasn’t there. So she’d taken to watching out for the blonde a little more closely than she had before... and she started to notice a strange pattern. Even when Gray wasn’t around, it was never very difficult to locate Lucy. In fact, Lucy was always nearby when Juvia looked for her. Sometimes doing her own thing in the guild hall. But sometimes also seeking her out to chat, or to shop.

Juvia couldn’t understand for the life of her why Lucy kept seeking her out on those days. The blonde had nothing to prove without Gray around to watch. And it wasn’t as if Lucy was hurting for friends or companionship - she had many other female friends. So why bother with Juvia?

Eventually, she worked up the nerve to ask Lucy outright the reason why. The other woman had looked so confused by Juvia’s words, that it made anxiety ripple and shift inside the rain woman. A feeling that was only heightened when Lucy told her that it was because she enjoyed being with Juvia.

Preposterous. Absurd. If there was one thing Juvia had gleaned from her previous relationships and her clumsy courtship of Gray, it was that people did not really enjoy her presence all that much. She tended to be... too much for them. And the worst of it was the fact that in the heat of the moment, she could never tell. It was only after going home to stew in her actions that she would be overcome with shame and embarrassment for them. Even Gajeel had been somewhat dragged, kicking and screaming, into a friendship with her.

It wasn’t until a bad storm rolled into Magnolia that Juvia finally believed Lucy’s words. It had been an unpleasant, muggy day. Full of the promise of rain. Most of the other guild members had stayed home, including Gray. Which wasn’t surprising, all in all. Gray hated the rain. But Juvia... had still hoped to see him there. Knowing how she, too, hated the rain. She’d resigned herself to a day full of black clouds, both within and without.

But then... Lucy had come running into the guild, not quite outpacing the downpour as the skies opened up. She’d looked around frantically, sopping wet and ignoring Mirajane’s attempts to give her a towel. When she’d spotted Juvia, she’d marched straight over to her, and plopped wetly down on the bench beside her. Then she’d taken Juvia’s hands, and with a look of desperation... had asked if Juvia was alright.

At first, Juvia had thought that Lucy believed her responsible for the rain. So she’d yanked her hands out of Lucy’s grip and snubbed her.

Then the thunder and lightning started in. Howling winds shook the guild’s rafters, and for a second Juvia had a frightening thought that maybe her outrage at Lucy had made the storm worse.

It was then that Lucy took Juvia’s hands in hers again, and clarified, “I’m just worried, because I know how much you hate the rain, Juvia.”

That was when everything snapped into terrifying clarity for Juvia. She’d always believed, until that moment, that what had happened in the Tower of Heaven had been a one-time thing. Lucy hadn’t acted any differently towards Juvia after it, so Juvia wrote off the connection she’d felt as a heat-of-the-moment type of thing.

But Lucy had noticed, when even Gray hadn’t. How Juvia hated the rain, how she hated being alone. Lucy _had_ acted differently after the Tower of Heaven towards Juvia. Juvia just hadn’t seen it, in her laser focus on Gray.

The reason why Lucy always seemed to be around, even when Gray wasn’t... was because _Juvia_ _was_.

There was a second way to save someone... save Juvia from the rain. And that was to be there throughout the storm, holding her hands and helping her to weather it until clear skies returned. Someone who cared for Juvia the way she’d always craved.

And oh gods above, did Lucy _care._

Storms became much, much less frightening after that. Juvia counted it a good thing.


End file.
